A dishwasher is an electric home appliance that sprays wash water onto objects to be washed in order to remove foreign matter from the objects.
A conventional dishwasher generally includes a tub that defines a washing space, a rack provided in the tub for receiving objects to be washed, a spray arm for spraying wash water to the rack, a sump for storing wash water, and a pump for supplying the wash water stored in the sump to the spray arm.
Meanwhile, some examples of the conventional dishwasher are configured to wash objects to be washed using heated wash water or to supply steam to objects to be washed in order to wash or sterilize the objects.
In the conventional dishwasher, the wash water stored in the sump is heated using a heater provided in the sump. In addition, the conventional dishwasher further includes a steam generator for generating steam.
The conventional dishwasher further includes a steam nozzle provided at the side of the tub for spraying steam into the tub and a steam hose connected between the steam nozzle and the steam generator.
In this case, however, the steam sprayed from the side of the tub cannot wet all surfaces of the objects.
In addition, the steam is supplied only to the objects placed in the opposite sides of the rack. As a result, the steam is not supplied to the objects placed in the middle part of the rack.
Furthermore, the steam is supplied only from the side of the tub. As a result, the temperature in the washing space, which is defined in the tub, is not uniform.